DESPITE being nearly 40, Richard Stronach could not resist the urge to dance around his living room as he watched a Madness concert on TV.

One energetic move too many and he was lying in a crumpled heap on the floor unable to move because of searing back pain.

Virtually immobile for the next couple of days, Richard, 39, from Edinburgh, was at his wit's end so when a friend recommended trying the Bowen technique to cure his pain he did not think twice.

A relatively new therapy, the technique was developed in Australia in the 1950s by Tom Bowen to treat back and muscle pain.

It is also claimed to be effective in treating a wide range of other ailments, including neck and shoulder problems, knee, ankle and hamstring injuries, hay fever, respiratory and hormonal problems.

Now available in Edinburgh, Richard decided to give it a try after suffering back problems and sciatica for a number of years.

His back problems began when he worked as a printer and had a lot of twisting and lifting to do - but even when he changed jobs to work as a supervisor at one of the city's museums his back problems persisted, despite frequent visits to physiotherapists and chiropractors.

He said: "They were able to relieve the problems for a while but I'd soon start to get sciatica twinges again.

"Then after dancing around to Madness it was so bad I knew I had to try something else."

His friend had given him practitioner Caroline Madden's number so he made an appointment.

Although the first session appeared to do very little, within a couple of days he started to feel more comfortable.

After a total of eight sessions, he finished his treatment last December and has been pain free ever since.

He said: "It's the longest I've been without pain for years and I would de nitely recommend it to others.

"The first time I went, it all seemed a bit weird and you wonder how it is going to work but it de finitely does and now I feel brand new."

Edinburgh fishmonger George Baxter was also sceptical after his first treatment with Caroline.

The 56 -year -old, who was suffering from sciatica, said: "I was surprised at how little she did and just thought it was a waste of time.

"However, I am a great believer in giving things time so I booked another session a week later and afterwards started to see a little difference so I booked another, then another.

"I've had five treatments in total but the pain had actually gone after four. I'm very impressed and have been recommending it to others."

Like Richard, George had suffered back problems for years and was a regular at physiotherapy.

When he developed sciatica he went to the physio as usual but found it did little to relieve the pain.

He said: "By that time the pain was really affecting my sleep and my moods and making me almost impossible to live with. I'd had sciatica for six months by the time I saw her advert and thought that anything was worth a try.

"However, it is difficult to understand how it works and I would say to everyone to persevere with it and not be put off by the first and not be put off by the first session."

The principle behind the technique is to work gently on the muscles in order to send a message to the brain to heal the body.

A treatment consists of a series of gentle moves across muscles, tendons and ligaments with short waits of around two minutes between certain moves to allow the therapy to activate responses.

The moves trigger the nervous system to assess tensions and start the process of release - allowing the body to realign itself.

Caroline, 45, said: "It can benefit people of all ages from newborn babies and pregnant woman through to the elderly for acute or chronic conditions."

She trained in the technique after she found it effective for her own neck and back problems.

She said: "I went for physiotherapy but, while that helped, it did not resolve anything and the problems would just come back so I started trying other therapies.

"When I tried Bowen I was hooked and signed up for the hooked and signed up for the training."

She qualified in the technique in 2005 and is a full member of the Bowen Therapy Academy of Australia (BTAA), the Bowen Academy of the UK and also holds a diploma in anatomy and physiology.

She said: "I have found it can have quite profound effects. Acute problems like sciatica can be resolved fairly quickly but if a condition is chronic it might take a bit longer."

Caroline treats children including her own - Aoife, nine, and Amelie, six. Amelie was born with an eye condition which results in her having to turn her head to one side to get accurate vision.

She said: "Because of the constant head turn she suffers from neck pain and sometimes back pain.

"She loves it, usually gets very relaxed and thinks I'm great as I make people's pain go away! e great thing is, it is gentle, nonmanipulative but highly effective."